94 1200 sportster carb problem

i bought a 94 sportster a couple of months ago and noticed at first that i had almost no reserve in my tank when i ran it down,later it started stalling and running rough like it was starving for fuel ,checked fuel to the carb , it was getting plenty , finally i took off the carb to check the float level and found that the vacuum control hose was disconnected from the back of the carb , so i set the float level ,reattached the hose and tested the bike out...it ran like new , now im running it in hopes that the reserve will work when it gets low ! hope my solution to my problem helps some one in the future ! thanks

The reserve is controlled by the fuel tap as there are 2 inlets on it the main position draws the fuel through the stalk and the reserve is from the base of the fuel tap so if there is very little reserve then perhaps a problem with the fuel tap
Bike also needs to be upright as the fuel tap on the 94 is on the right side and if on the side stand the fuel in the tank will have sloshed to the left side of the tank
if the fuel tap filter screen is dirty it can act as a tube and syphon fuel from a lower level of the tank into the top of the fuel tap stalk and out through the normal position on the tap so perhaps a good clean of the filter screen is required
Bear in mind that the peanut tank on the 94 sportster has about a 70 mile range with about 7 miles reserve

Glad you found the problem...Brian has you covered. The thing is that vacuum operated petcock is a safety feature...and adding a level of "complication" to the fueling system is a "necessary evil". Personally I like it, I have worn out a "fair" amount of the "regular" fuel petcock internals "waggling them on and off"...having it vacuum operated automatically saves a lot of wear and tear on it or the dreaded "gravity flooding issues" for those who forget to turn it "OFF" when storing for a month or two...!